Oscar Nomination

Oscar 2017 is coming in the next few weeks and the animated film nomination is dominated by Disney:

Three out of the five heavy contenders are from Disney and this just demonstrates Disney's industry power in the field of cartoon/anime.

Although my favorite anime this year is Kubo and the two strings, which tells a much more empowered, real and moving story, I thoroughly enjoyed Zootopia and other Disney films.

Thoughts on aesthetic of evil in relation to Disney Characters

 

         For Monday class we read a beautiful piece of article discussing ideas on definition of evilness by Daniel A. Forbes. The writer presented intriguing movie characters that explain his standpoints on evil, or rather confusions about it. As he tried to find the fundamental factors that determines its origin, and observe it from different historical periods, angles and scales. 

        To me the answer was rather concise and clear. Even though I had a hard time explaining it in class (boy Monday is rough). Rather than getting frozen during class discussion, I hope to give an explicit answer of evilness that I find helpful in explaining oddity around the world in this blog. 

         In my honest opinion, there is no such thing as good an evil, at least the contemporary definition of evil. The original meaning of the English word "evil" has changed considerably over the last few hundred years. Old and Middle English period it meant simply "bad" but now it contains an intensification level of "moral wickedness". And the idea of "good" and "bad" is merely an abbreviation of a much larger and mixed context.

        

        Evil is an identification( physical or physiological) of disturbance in one's well-being, and often in a way that deteriorate ones' living conditions. In contrast, the idea of good, and the symbol of it, a hero, is something that formulate and improves one's well-being. A hero is good because he or she saves life and prevent villain from destroying others' well-being. Instead of thinking about moral on a good and bad spectrum, one should look upon the net growth of one's well-being. But why are things related to one's well-being? 

    

      The word well-being has a wide definition but can be condensed into terms such as survival, emotion and physical condition. By nature's definition, life is good, because we can experience all the greatness around us, and oppose to death as fear of the unknown plus it is a drastic change in one's well-being, Any form of living organism has the basic reflex of denying death, either by escaping from predators or hiding in a shell. Majority of human tend to deny death or disadvantages to our living conditions, and this basic behavior forms every bit of our daily language and communication. "I missed my flight today because of this awful weather." "This president candidate is beyond evil, how can this person say/do such things?" There is no good or evil, and your opinion ultimately comes down to the potential influence and effect of this "something" to your believes and life.

     

       Why does the The Evil Queen wants to kill Snow white? The reason is simple because Snow White's beauty disturbs Evil Queen's well-being , and anyone's survival instinct is to insure and maintain his or her own living status and condition. So who is the villain now? These questions comes by in every movie. 

       Understanding of evil not only helps me to analysis villains in movies and books in a much more efficient and objective manner, but also helps one to live smarter. When someone has an opinion about you, it is because you have an influence in his or her well-being. By understanding the problem of morality, you can tackle conflicts and hiccups in life with precision and also help others when possible.

      

Beauty and the beast

The highly anticipated Disney movie Beauty and the beast is coming out on March 17th, 2017. What are you thoughts?

Introductory Post

Hello to everyone who is reading my blog.
      My name is Frank Qu, and my blog will be discussing topics related to Disney.
      I signed up for writing 101 decoding Disney because I have a genuine interest in movies and film literature. In addition, I have heard the professor for the decoding Disney is not only enjoyable but also helpful in improving writing skills.
       I have not watched many classic Disney films but I think these subjects deserve a closer look because many of them were influencing factors for generations of people around the globe. At the beginning of every semester, our primary school gave out all course materials, and it would also be the time when I would receive some precious cartoon books with Mickey Mouse and Winnie. Although I did not know many Disney characters, my parents brought me to Hong Kong Disneyland. The memory is vague, with images of crowded palaces and people wearing costumes(I did have a good time there) .
       Disney did not stood out as much to me in childhood. Back in China, what everyone was talking about was Japanese anime such as Naruto and Dragonball. After these interests faded out in my life, Disney kept coming back to me, hearing them on the news and understanding the magnitude of its corporation with mixed reviews. Interest on Disney slowly grows on me and I am eager to understand its strategies in character building and product targeting.
       I took a course called film literature, in my senior year in high school. The instructor held high standard on us and I enjoyed writing papers on analysis of film techniques such as sounding, angles and lightning. Decoding Disney may not investigate a film in such manner, but I believe it will be a great presentation of an industry empire. Perhaps more challenging, but I am ready to explore.